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Alina Szapocznikow: Sculpture Undone, 1955-1972

Exhibitions

Illuminated Lips and Marching Lips, c. 1966

Alina Szapocznikow: Sculpture Undone, 1955‒1972

May 19, 2012–Aug 5, 2012

Discover the work of a prominent Polish artist in a major touring exhibition. Artforum.com says it offers "that rare luminous sense of discovery that comes with encountering a phenomenal artist for the first time."

In a tragically brief career, Alina Szapocznikow restlessly explored an incredible range of sculptural approaches. Highly respected in her native Poland, her work has only recently begun to be widely known and admired internationally, evoking such terms as “risky” and “audacious” and comparisons to such legendary artists as Louise Bourgeois and Eva Hesse.

This international touring exhibition is one of the first large-scale surveys of Szapocznikow’s work outside of Poland. Sculpture Undone concentrates in particular on works dating from 1955 to just before Szapocznikow’s untimely death in 1973, at age 47. Those years are often described as her experimental period, when she shifted from rather classical figurative sculpture to the use of new, often-unexpected materials and forms that recall both surrealism and pop art. More specifically, she developed a concept of sculpture as a kind of imprint: not only of memory but of her own body. She created tinted polyester casts of her lips and breasts and transformed them into functional objects like lamps or vases or ashtrays, incorporated photographs into her constructions, and poured polyurethane to form strange and provocative objects. These late works—at once sexualized, fragmented, vulnerable, humorous, and political—remain as remarkably idiosyncratic and contemporary today as they were when they were first made.

This exhibition was organized by WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels, and the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, in collaboration with The Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles.